Air quality

The air quality here is quite appalling.  I woke up to an ethereal mist, which to me wasn't too surprising given the climate and humidity here.  But as you spend time outside, it becomes clearer that it's a pretty dense haze, and the visibility is pretty terrible.  A shopkeeper I was talking to told me that it is particularly bad today, and that the reason is that nearby in Indonesia they are doing controlled burns or something and it blows over into Singapore.  I didn't know what to make of this, whether it's true or whether that's a way of denying local pollution issues.

As the day went on and I wound up at Marina Bay where there are sweeping views of the skyline, the haze was becoming impenetrable.  And then, atop the Marina Bay Sands skydeck, I was approached by two reporters from a local newspaper who interviewed me about my perspective as a tourist on the smog.  They confirmed that the cause is in fact the burning from Indonesia, and that current conditions are in fact abnormally bad.  But the conditions are actually so bad that they are in the "highly unhealthy" range, and it is unsafe to be outside at all.  The pollution is worst in the evenings, as well. They also asked me if I knew anything about the pollution situation when I was planning my trip, so I got to explain, "oh, I didn't plan my trip at all".

So after the interview, they suggested I go back inside immediately.  They suggested that one safe activity I could consider would be the Gardens by the Bay, which are _indoor_, air-conditioned gardens.  In their words, this was "very Singaporean", to experience the outdoors while in air-conditioned comfort.  Additionally, the plants themselves require air-conditioning, which they admitted was quite the amusing contradiction for Singapore, a self-declared "green city".

The "impenetrable haze" from atop the Marina Bay Sands SkyPark:

The indoor, air-conditioned Gardens by the Bay: